The Desert Darkness Session 10
The tenth session of The Desert Darkness Preceded by The Desert Darkness Session 9 Plot (Part 1) The Church of Night enters the city of Altengrace, only to find it seemingly deserted. Desiring new magic items, they seek out a shop and Claudiu Ionel picks the lock to get in. Rune finds a terrified eladrin family cowering behind the counter and the party convinces them that they are fighting against the cultists of Zehir and the brown dragon Urum-Shar. The shopkeeper allows the Church to stay the sleeping-time in a back-room of his shop and, in the morning, points out to them a mesa which is the suspected location of the dragon's lair. While they are leaving, Bane Kelnozz steals a powder that can turn skin to bone, a totem that covers all within a 60 yard radius in spider webs, and an artifact that prevents a creature from entering the same building as the caster. Before setting out Darrak uses Portend Weather to scry that there will be another sandstorm during their travels toward the mesa. Using the knowledge that Darrak gave them, the party once again makes its way through another storm and safely reaches their destination. To investigate the mesa, Claudiu turns into a mist and flies up to spy on any creatures above. He finds a group of yuan-ti and snaketongue cultists chanting before the moon bridge. The Church of Night launches into the fray to stop the ritual. Nehem, invoking the divine power of Buragan, aids the party immensely by channeling the life of enemies into the Church. The travelers discover that they are unable to stop the ritual once it has begun and they watch in horror as the light of the moons slowly align under the moon bridge. As the last moon, Anaki, moves into order it is transformed into a cube, stopping the ritual as the "orbs" can no longer aligned. After a long and tactically challenging battle, the party stands victorious over the cultists, ready to face the dragon. Plot (Part 2) As the Church is about to enter into Urum-shar's lair, the Silver Lining appears out from the clouds above with the symbol of Zehir painted on the bottom. A harpoon is fired down to anchor the ship and a yuan-ti rappels down. The party prepares for a fight, but at that moment the creature transforms into Sayyadina and she is joined by Stelian Ionel, Jackdaw Corvus, Lizard People, and Orne Yellowcrane. Sayyadina says that they painted the symbol onto the ship in order to sneak past Zehir's cultists. Jackdaw explains that he returned to Cante Dore after resurrecting his wife to thank the party, but had to chase after them as they had already left the city. They then leave to rid the city of Altengrace of the remaining yuan-ti, but not before Lizard People bestows a blessing of Nusemnee upon them, restoring all of the party's health and daily powers. The Church of Night then enters the mesa and winds their way into the lair. When they come to a dead-end, Bane phases through the wall and discovers an illusory wall blocking the progress of the party. The group walks through the illusion and come to the ritual chamber of the dragon. There they find their loved ones along with other civilians chained to the walls with needles in their bodies so that their blood drains into the center of the chamber where the holy symbol of Zehir is carved into the ground. As the final battle begins, the dragon burrows into the ground and emerges from the symbol larger than before. The fight is particularly difficult as Urum-shar constantly turns into sand and blinds the players until Bane conjures his shadow lurk and immobilizes the dragon. After a long and difficult battle, Gunnar strikes the final blow, sending his heavy war pick deep into the monster's skull. In death, the creature serves the party as Darrak's undead minion and aids the Church in freeing and stabilizing the prisoners. After defeating the dragon, what appeared to be the roof of the cave fades and is revealed to have been a low-hanging cloud of darkness. The Silver Lining descends and the Church of Night flies off, continuing on the Great Migration. Claudiu Ionel and his wife Mirela head toward the south side of Istria to find a new home. Nehem restores the shrine of Buragan. Gunnar continues to travel on the migration, acting as a guard for caravans. Darrak goes on to spread the word of Labelas Enoreth. Rune and Zorus Forgelight head off to spread the word of Moradin and search for more lost runes. Bane continues his search for lost treasures.